with the rule-making and regulatory authority granted to the Secretary under 

 Section 5 for purposes of conservation and the prevention of waste, may pro- 

 vide the statutory authority for regulation which may impinge on activities 

 conducted by other Federal agencies. Thus far, the Secretary has not found 

 it necessary to exercise any significant measure of regulation or control. 

 And perhaps this will never become necessary if, through coordination of 

 Federal programs and care in planning and operation, we can avoid conflicts 

 with leasing programs and danger to aquatic life and prevent waste of natural 

 resources through effective conservation practices. 



Lease operations conducted under the Act will not seriously inhibit 

 research and development programs even when large portions of the Continen- 

 tal Shelf are subject to mineral lease. All such leases are issued subject 

 to rights-of-way for pipelines and for other purposes to assure that leasing 

 activities do not unnecessarily interfere with the reasonable and necessary 

 uses of the seabed and subsoil of the Continental Shelf. As a matter of 

 fact, the current regulations permit the issuance of leases for different 

 minerals on the same land area where the simultaneous operation of such 

 leases is feasible and desirable. 



I have mentioned previously that the development of a comprehensive and 

 workable set of laws for the administration and development of the natural 

 resources of the Continental Shelf is complicated by the fact that recogni- 

 tion must be given to the impact of international law on all activities con- 

 ducted on the Outer Continental Shelf. In this regard, the United States 

 has signed and ratified the rules of international law prepared by the 

 International Law Commission and adopted at the 1958 Geneva Conference. The 

 Conference provides the international legal definition of the Continental 

 Shelf and establishes the rights of coastal nations to explore and develop 

 the natural resources therein. 



The definition of natural resources as finally adopted in the Convention 

 is very broad and includes minerals and other nonliving resources of the sea- 

 bed and subsoil and the "living organisms belonging to sedentary species , 

 which, at the harvestable stage, either are immobile on or under the seabed 

 or are unable to move except in constant physical contact with the seabed 

 or the subsoil." Since no precise definition of the term "natural resources" 

 is set out in the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, we can assume that term 

 is at least as broad as the definition set out in the Convention. It is 

 important to note that the Convention does have a significant impact upon 

 oceanographic and other scientific research on the Outer Continental Shelf. 

 Article 5 of the Convention provides that the exploitation of natural re- 

 sources of the Shelf must not "result in any interference with fundamental 

 oceanographic or other scientific research carried out with the intention 

 of open publication," Article 5 also imposes the following conditions upon 

 those desiring to conduct such research: 



1) Consent of the coastal nation must first 

 be obtained; 



